MotoGP Jerez: Friday double for flying Lorenzo

Reigning MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo completed a perfect practice double by leading both Friday sessions for his home Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez.

The Factory Yamaha star dipped under his morning time early in the afternoon session, setting what would be the best lap of the day on the 4th of 18 rotations.

Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider Cal Crutchlow underlined the strength of his challenge by moving from fourth to second place, just 0.171s from Lorenzo, also courtesy of an early FP2 lap.

Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa did not improve on his morning time and slipped back one place to third. However Pedrosa remained second on combined times and was only 0.195s from Lorenzo this afternoon, when he spent much of the session using the harder rear tyre, unlike Lorenzo and Crutchlow.

Lorenzo's team-mate Valentino Rossi also put in considerable time on the harder rear, before a late switch back to the soft with which he claimed fourth place (+0.312s).

Rookie race winner and joint championship leader Marc Marquez completed a close top five, just 0.327s from Lorenzo despite some 'twitchy' moments on his Repsol Honda. The Moto2 champion ran the softer rear to set his best time.

A clear gap then formed to next best Alvaro Bautista, the Gresini Honda rider being 0.945s from Lorenzo. Close behind Bautista was top Ducati rider and rookie Andrea Iannone (Pramac), Avintia's Hector Barbera - who edged out Aleix Espargaro for top CRT honours - and Nicky Hayden.

Hayden's factory Ducati team-mate Andrea Dovizioso and test rider Michele Pirro - race-testing new developments as a wild-card this weekend - then made it three Desmosedicis in a row.

Tech 3 rookie Bradley Smith featured in the top ten on his way to 13th place, closing from 2.0s to 1.4s from Lorenzo, with LCR Honda's Stefan Bradl the slowest of the manufacturer riders in 14th after a fast lowside fall.

As well as Pedrosa, Hayden and Bradl were the other manufacturer riders to lap slower this afternoon.

Ioda's Lukas Pesek suffered a major engine failure on his Suter-BMW and was left 24th and last.

The start of the session was delayed slightly due to on-going power cuts at the circuit.

Third practice, after which the top ten fastest riders will receive direct access to the second and final part of qualifying, takes place on Saturday morning.